Hi all. I have the HSFX mod installed and complex engine management enabled. Anyone have some tips for dealing with engine overheat problems?

I've tried throttling the power back but with no effect

Every plane is different. Get your radiators full open quickly. Take off and throttle back. Experiment with your engine to find the sweet spot where you can cruise without overheating. Cruise speed is much slower than combat speed. Combat will be a juggling act between performance and engine preservation.

Some planes can fly at 85% throttle without overheating, others only 50%.

Cheers,
4S

In the real world, you need to understand a few things about airplanes.

They are cooled by air, oil, and fuel. Generally speaking... Oil is the most important, followed by air, and then (believe it or don't) fuel.

First and foremost is the RPM to altitude numbers with regards to the aircraft you're flying. At every RPM settings and at 'n' altitude, there is a "sweet zone" that brings in enough air and pulls in enough fuel to keep things happy.

1. The altitude you're flying at and then...
2. The oil temperature you're working with... (cooled by radiator)... and finally...
3. The mixture of the fuel to air ratio. Leaner mix = hot. Richer mix = cool. This is a balance, obviously.

Radiator is an air cooling mechanism. It can assist, but is not the only thing you need to worry about. Full throttle, RPM, and wide-open radiator doesn't really "mean" anything. You have to (now) monitor the guages. Like a sick kid, the higher the temperature, the more you have to work with air cooling and lower RPM to get the oil temperature down to keep the engine happy.

4Shades is simplifying the process, but he's essentially right.

I thought there were two primary variations on cooling depending on the type of engine design. Radials rely on air cooling, while the piston types rely on liquid cooling.

I think the point to remember is that the issue is with IL2 aircraft engines overheating.

As 4Shades stated, experiment in game with each aircraft and IIRC, the map it it used in (ie. summer, winter) makes a difference as well.

Handle the RPM via propellar pitch. Thats the key. In many planes you can fly (and fight) a long time on 90% pitch and 100% throttle, radiators open.

In combats: I use to drive down RPM via prop in dives and set it most fine (means 100% in game) only in climbs and at the end of zoom-outs. So I can fly 100% throttle all the time.

In some german planes you will find an automatic RPM adjustment (which can be set to manual too). Here you will have to play more with the throttle setting to keep your enigne cool.

I was kidding with 4Shades.
IL2 does a fairly accurate job with the mechanics of cooling an engine based upon simulated air, oil, and fuel, though.

+1 Some RPM indicators have a green zone painted on. Keep the needle there and it will run cool and last longer. If it doesn't, check the aircraft manual.

Another tip, that Tolwyn was indicating, is that airspeed helps with cooling. This has a simple effect. At the same RPM, you can overheat rapidly at low air speed and cool down quickly at high air speed. So keep your air speed up for most efficient cooling.

I love this feature, it builds virtual airmanship.

Very interesting....live and learn....didn't realize that.
Tks.

Thanks everyone. I've been trying out different rad settings in conjunction with various rpm settings to try and find a good sweet spot. I havent tried the prop pitch setting but have also tried the automixture setting as well.

A side note, any tips on navigation when realistic nav is on? I have the flightplan showing on the map but turned off the player icon and find with realistic naviagation on, i am finding it hard to fly to the target and home again.

Look for rivers and lakes and coastlines, anything that stands out on your map. Navigating is an essential part of flight, so you have to deal with it to understand your mission.

In some missions the radio nav systems are operative. But, again, you have to know how to use these systems. It's all part of being a competent pilot. Just the other day I was flying in an Iwo Jima mission at dusk, in the rain, and I had to fly for 15 minutes away from the island into the dark using Hayrake navigation to find my carrier. And the Hayrake worked fine.

Cheers,
4S

+1

Higher RPM, higher rate of firings going on in the engine -- same as real. Works in-game too.